Pretentious Polarizers are Preposterous

I'm sick to death of everything, every little damn piece of shit, in this country being politicized and, therefore, made polarizing.

Case in point, 300. Many of the negative reviews, in addition to deriding the film for being totally devoid of "substance," also chided the film for being a supposed piece of conservative propaganda. Iranian diplomats cry foul, that the film's depiction of Persians is "racist."

Excuse me? The film also has 40-foot-tall elephants, satyrs, and an obese tank of a monster with blades for arms. It's based on a goddamn comic book! It's PURE ENTERTAINMENT, for Christ's sake! It's an historical event retold through a lens of fantasy. Candy for the eyes. A fun diversion for two hours. Reading anything more into the film is like seeing shapes in the clouds--if you're looking for it, you'll find it.

It seems that since the bitterness of the 2004 election, people just can't agree to disagree anymore. Even our movie reviews for escapist entertainment are polluted by it. It's always "bloody liberals" or "bigot conservatives," blah blah blah blah blah. I'm fucking sick of it, aboslutely fucking sick of it. Can't people relax anymore? Does everyone have to be up on their high horse all the goddamned time?

Yes, we're in a war, and it sucks. It sucks the Big One. Just about everyone (excepting defense contractors) would agree on this point, because no one wants to be at war. But when I'm watching a film based on a comic book about epic battles and blood spattering all over the screen and there's lots of pretty colors, I don't want to be thinking about the war; I'm watching the damn movie so that I don't have to think about the war. If I wanted to think about the war, I'd watch Jarhead or Black Hawk Down or something grounded in reality, not a fantasy comic-book epic. Not every film needs to be an intellectual wank-fest ("Look, film's an art form too, just like books! See how literate and culturally aware I am! Oh, YEAHHHH!!")

I appreciate films of artistic merit and I appreciate staying on top of current events and everything, but goddamn it, I also appreciate being able to escape and relax once and a while; to enjoy something not because I found great meaning or because it agrees with me, but because it's fun.

Relax, people.